


there's a love that's divine (and it's yours and it's mine)

by Jenny_Jensen



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I promise!, No Angst, oneshots, prompts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-14
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:07:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25902541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jenny_Jensen/pseuds/Jenny_Jensen
Summary: Her best friend raises one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Then what do you want, Betty-Bee? I only meddle because I care, and you, Elizabeth, will not be spending another year being single. You are far too precious.”Betty dares to smile, as only one person comes to mind.“I want... reckless,” she confesses, after a moment. “I want spontaneity. I want someone who would knock down walls just to save me, but also be able to understand that I am not a damsel in distress. I just... I want something real, Veronica. I want someone who will love me for me.”50 Bughead prompts inspired by a beautifully written OTP generator I found online.
Relationships: Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Minor Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz - Relationship, minor Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 53





	there's a love that's divine (and it's yours and it's mine)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts found from: https://prompts.neocities.org/
> 
> Prompt 1: Person A and Person B go separately to a New Year's Party and end up standing next to each other during the countdon to midnight.
> 
> Prompt 2: Person B: Imagine getting paid for being cute  
> Person A: You'd be rich.  
> Person B: I... um... *blushes"
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! :)

* * *

**Raise Your Glass**

“Elizabeth Cooper...”

“V,” she raises her hands in surrender. “I’m sorry. Really, I am, he’s just...”

“An extremely successful investment banker,” Veronica crosses her arms, lips forming into a pout. “Brad Welch happens to be a very successful investment banker and happens to be one of New York’s most eligible bachelors.”

“How nice for him,” Betty returns dryly.

“Betty! We caught you trying to sneak down the fire escape just to avoid him!”

“Veronica, what do you want me to say?” She sighs. “Was he good looking? Yes. Extremely so. Was he well put together? Yes. Was he everything my mother would have wanted for me? _Yes._ But I don’t _want_ what Alice wanted for me, V. I never did. I mean, wasn’t that the point of me going to Yale and cutting ties? To get out from under Alice’s thumb?”

Her best friend raises one perfectly plucked eyebrow. “Then what _do_ you want, Betty-Bee? I only meddle because I care, and you, Elizabeth, will not be spending _another_ year being single. You are far too precious.”

Betty dares to smile, as only one person comes to mind.

“I want... reckless,” she confesses, after a moment. “I want spontaneity. I want someone who would knock down walls just to save me, but also be able to understand that I am not a damsel in distress. I just... I want something _real,_ Veronica. I want someone who will love me for me.”

Veronica stares at her, like she doesn’t know quite what to say to her, but she never gets the chance to reply anyway, because Archie is there, loudly announcing that the fireworks are about to start.

They don’t give her even a second to grab her coat from Veronica’s carefully organized and guarded coat closet. No one quite does parties like the Lodge’s, and Veronica’s New Year’s Eve bash is no exception.

Bodies are packed into the Pembrooke, formally owned by her mother, that now, along with Lodge Industries, belongs solely to Hermione’s daughter. Betty briefly wonders where her best friend knows all of these people. Riverdale is a small town, so most of them must be people she knew in New York, Betty decides.

Archie has Veronica’s hand, Veronica has her arm in a tight grasp. She still somehow manages to lose them in the crowd.

Betty is knocked left, and then right. As a hard shoulder collides into her own, she finally falls backwards. She tries to prepare herself for the impending fall, but it never comes.

Leather clad arms are quick to wrap around her, keeping her upright.

“Watch where you’re going, fucking asshole,” her rescuer snaps. “Not you, Betts, the dick that knocked into you.”

 _Betts._ She smiles.

“Hi Juggie,”

“Hey there, Princess,” Jughead teases, letting go when he’s sure she’s steady. “Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year,” Betty responds. Feeling brave, she leans in to brush her lips across his cheek. “I didn’t think you would show.”

He shrugs. “Veronica threatened to call me the dreaded Forsythe for the rest of my life if I didn’t come. What about you? I thought you were gonna stay in Connecticut for the holidays.”

“I spent Christmas there,” she confesses, and wonders if that was really the last time they talked. She’s busy working two jobs, with a load of classes, ready to graduate in the upcoming semester while he runs a garage, the Serpents, and is nearly done with his very first novel, which he still won’t allow her to read. They’ve been friends since they were four, best friends, but communication has been limited lately. “Archie showed up three days ago and practically packed my bags for me so I would come back with him.”

“We’ve got some great friends, don’t we, Betts?”

“Some of them are... better than the others at times,” Betty beams. “Like you, Mr. Right Place at the Right Time. You saved me from a pretty embarrassing moment back there, Juggie.”

“I’ve learned to be on my toes around you, Cooper,” there’s a teasing lilt to his voice.

She huffs. “Jughead Jones, I am _not_ that clumsy!”

“Falling down the steps of the library,” Jughead recites with a grin. “Falling _up_ the stairs of the library. Tripping over a pebble on the walk to school, a leaf, the time you-”

“Okay, okay!” Betty covers her mouth with his palm. “I’m a klutzy, okay? I admit it, all right? And _you_ , Forsythe, are the one who’s always saving me. Happy now.”

Gently, he takes her wrist, brings her arm back down by her side, but doesn’t let go.

“I’d never let anything happen to you, Betts,” he says, and his tone always seems to carry the hint of a promise.

 _“Three minute to midnight!”_ Someone shouts.

She’s knocked into again, and just like before, Jughead catches her, keeping his arms around her this time.

“Fucking assholes,”

“Like I said,” her face is flushed. “You’re always saving me, Juggie.”

He eyes her playfully. “You’ve never been one for cliché’s, Princess.”

“Is it really a cliché if it’s true?” Betty retorts. “After all, I _did_ fall down the steps of the library.”

“And up-”

“And _up,”_ she glares at him as he laughs. “I slipped on a banana peel that one time we went hiking at Fox Forrest.”

Jughead chuckles again, deep in his throat, clearly remembering. “Now that’s a cliché.”

“Sweet Pea’s the one who threw it,” Betty grumbles. “I think it was his unintentional revenge for making him _go_ on that hike.”

“And what did I do?”

“Punched him in the throat,” she says, and grimaces at the memory. Violence has never been her forte, as much as he tries to shield her from the darker workings of the Southside. “And then you carried me on your back the rest of the way.”

“Because I knew we would never make it otherwise,” he jokes.

Halfheartedly, she pushes him away, but he’s having none of that. Gripping her by the elbows, he pulls her with him, towards the edge of the roof.

 _“Two minutes to midnight!”_ The same person yells. Betty wonders if they’re watching the seconds tick by on their phone.

“Gotta have a good view of those fireworks,” Jughead explains.

Betty nods in agreement.

And then, after a moment.

“There’s no one else I’d rather watch them with,” she whispers.

His eyes look hopeful. “Not even that _extremely successful_ insurance broker Veronica’s trying to set you up with?”

“Investment banker,” Betty snorts. “and no, definitely not my type.”

“No?”

“No,” she repeats. “He was shallow, condescending, and truthfully, a total bore.”

Jughead hooks an arm around her shoulders in a supportive hug. “All the things Alice wanted for you.”

Betty makes a face.

“Sorry it’s not gonna work out Betts,” he offers.

She eyes him cautiously. “Are you?”

“Honestly?” Jughead grins at her sheepishly. “Not really. You deserve so much better than that jerk.”

_And you could be better._

_“Sixty seconds to midnight!”_

“Oh my god,” she finally recognizes the voice, and she can’t help but laugh. “That’s Sweet Pea!”

Jughead, several feet taller than her, peers through the crowd, and soon joins in with her laughter.

“You’re right,”

“But... he’s never this excited. About anything.”

“He’s gotta be drunk,”

“Oh obviously,” Betty shrugs. “As long as he’s having fun, right?”

“Yeah,” Jughead pulls her closer. “As long as he’s having fun.”

Her heart is hammering inside of her chest at the contact. She prays he can’t hear it.

“So.. um...”

Why is it so hard to find words?

“I’m done letting Veronica try to set me up on dates,” Betty decides, even though that isn’t what she was planning to say.

Jughead seems pleased by the sentiment. She doesn’t know why.

 _“Ten!”_ Sweet Pea calls, as others begin to join in. _“Nine! Eight!”_

“You’re really done?” He asks, almost hesitantly.

Betty nods, determined.

“I know what I want,” she says.

“Yeah?” He spins her to face the night sky. “So do I.”

_“Seven! Six! Five!”_

“Betts?”

“J-Juggie?”

“You know how you’re always giving me shit for not having a New Year’s resolution?”

“I hardly give you-”

“Betty,” he laughs. “You think everyone should have a plan. For everything.”

Her lower lip sticks out. “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

“It’s _not,”_ Jughead stresses the word out. “Honestly Princess, it’s not. I love that about you.”

He... _what?_

“My point is... I realized you were right.”

Betty relaxes in his arms. “You did?”

“Mhhm,” he leans in closer to her. “I _should_ have a plan, so I thought about it, and... I know what my New Year’s resolution is gonna be.”

_“Four... three...”_

“W-What is it, Juggie?”

Her fingers are trembling.

_“Three... two...”_

“My New Year’s resolution,” he’s only inches away from her. “is to finally tell Elizabeth Cooper that I am crazy about her.”

Sweet Pea gets to the end of his count down as the year changes, but she barely hears him. Jughead’s lips are on her own as the first firework lights up the sky. His arms are around her waist, her hands are in his hair, and she’s never been happier.

Because her New Year’s resolution had been to tell Forsythe Jones that she’s crazy about him too.

* * *

“Well, would you look at that.”

Archie’s arms wrap around her from behind.

Veronica hums, happily leaning into him. Jughead and Betty are completely ignoring her impressive fireworks celebration in favor of one another, and the only thing she can think is _it’s about damn time._

“Guess this means you can stop setting Betty up with people who are completely wrong for her, huh?”

“I told her,” she replies, twirling and standing on her tiptoes to give her own boyfriend a celebratory peck. “I only meddle because I care.”

* * *

**Into You**

Veronica doesn’t seem to mind that they leave the party together, even though Betty is staying with her and Archie.

He invites them along to Pop’s, but they kindly decline, and he tries _not_ to think about what his best friend will get up to after everyone is gone. What Archie does behind closed doors is none of his business.

The rest of the Serpents, and Kevin, agree to meet up at Pop’s. He’s glad he thought to bring his spare helmet, really, Betty’s helmet since she’s the only one who ever rides with him, as she climbs on behind him, wraps her arms around his torso, and holds onto him for dear life.

She’s not wearing that sweet little party dress anymore, but a pair of jeans, a gray slouchy sweater, and her winter coat. He loves her in everything she wears.

They’ve kissed, several times now, and he’s happy that she’s agreed to go to Pop’s, because maybe, just maybe, if they get a second alone, he can ask her what all of this is supposed to _mean._

He knows what it means for him. He can only hope that it means the same thing for her.

* * *

Toni, as it turns out, has finally convinced Cheryl to get a dog.

Betty sits beside him in the booth, his arm thrown across the back of it. They’re squeezed in tight, so it’s not too suspicious.

She’s cooing over pictures of the rescue they’ll be picking up in just a few days. He knows how much she’s missed having a pet of her own since her own cat Carmel died of old age when she was twelve.

“Look at this,” she demands, thrusting Toni’s phone into his line of vision. He doesn’t bother to point out that Toni is his best friend, and as such, he’s already endured hours of photos of the two year old mutt to be named Skittles, because she’s so damn _cute._ “Look at his _eyes,_ Jug! He could become Instagram famous for those eyes.”

“We’re thinking of making him an account,” Cheryl confesses. “My precious Skittles could make millions, it’s true.”

“Imagine getting paid to be _this_ cute,” Betty sounds amazed.

Jughead thinks without speaking. “You’d be rich, Betts.”

“...What?”

“What?” He asks, trying to recover from his own admission. Much to his horror, he’s _blushing._ “Uh... Well... Fuck it. You’re pretty fucking cute Cooper, you know that?”

Betty blushes, settles more comfortably against him.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she tells him, and he grins.

Their friends don’t seem surprised in the slightest.

* * *

“So,” he says, spinning her around to set her on the bike.

Betty, of course, beats him to the punch.

“Are we gonna do this thing,” she asks, taking the words right out of his mouth. “or what?”

 _“Oh yeah,”_ bending down, he picks her up to spin her around, their lips meeting in a frenzied kiss. “We are so gonna do this thing Betty Cooper. I am gonna date you so fucking hard.”

“Good,” Betty giggles. He loves the sound of her laughter. “Because I like you, Jughead. I like you a lot.”


End file.
